Category: County Jails|Custodial Death|Medical Care|Texas Commission on Jail Standards

The quality of inmate medical care is the number one topic of complaint against county jails in Texas, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). Usually, downfalls in connection with medical care seemingly go unnoticed unless an inmate in a Texas jail dies. Families attempt to reveal what happened to their loved one through news outlets.

A Woman with Diabetes is Allegedly Denied Needed Medication

A 55-year-old woman began having medical problems after her arrest and placement in a jail. Neither the guards nor the medical staff at the jail provided the woman with the insulin shots she needed. Instead, they provided her with a different treatment. Unfortunately, the change in medication resulted in her repeatedly experiencing diabetic comas. 

The woman was errantly placed in a psychiatric facility due to her state of non-communication. While there, she was provided with the needed insulin shots. As a result, her health was stabilized. Then she was placed back in the jail, where the insulin shots were again cut off and she began going into comas again. Tragically, the day came when she was discovered unresponsive in her cell and died after another diabetic crisis.

The woman’s family expressed great distress that their loved one did not receive what she needed for her serious medical condition. 

Learn what TCJS requires regarding prescriptions in this ongoing series.

This website has no intention of suggesting that any person or entity is participating in wrongdoing. Helping inmates currently or previously held in a Texas county jail is the purpose of these posts. 

–Guest Contributor 

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) compiled a report indicating that in 2016, 45% of all prisoner complaints were related to medical services. Prisoners have a right to needed medical care, and county jail in Texas have a duty to provide that care. When jail facilities fail to respond to urgent medical needs, prisoners sometimes die. To avoid health-related custodial deaths, county jails must follow such requirements as those laid out in the Texas Administrative Code in the Health Services chapters under TCJS. When a prisoner is denied medical care and dies, investigations are conducted. Jail documentation, including surveillance video, is examined to determine whether jail staff members acted in a manner consistent with minimum jail standards.

For example, TCJS conducted a special inspection after 58-year-old Robert Gallegos died from health problems while incarcerated in the El Paso County Jail in El Paso, Texas. The commission found evidence that supervision and health-service requirements were allegedly not being met at the time of the prisoner’s death. After the full investigation into the health-related custodial death, two detention officers were arrested and charged with tampering with government documents. The officers allegedly documented prisoner checks on Gallegos that they did not make.

Written records showed that routine 30-minute checks on Gallegos were made. Video records provided evidence that they were not. Other documentation showed that he was not given medication as prescribed by a doctor. Gallegos was discovered in his cell cold, pale, unresponsive, and without a pulse at around 5 a.m. on September 16, 2017. Efforts to revive him failed.

As with every post on this website, we are only providing information in this post and do not make any allegation or assertion that anyone acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct.

–Guest Contributor